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May 3, 2016

Ok, some folks have been accusing SmokyBeast of throwing softballs. Only a month into baseball season, that hurts.

"You guys seem to like everything!?!"

Well the truth is, we try plenty of stuff that we don't like. But that doesn't make for a very interesting article. Why would we recommend something to you that we didn't like? There's so much great whiskey around, we tend to focus on that. Also we don't like being mean.

But, since you asked, here are four bottles we tried recently that we'd categorize as a miss...

Longrow Peated

Springbank makes some incredible whiskies. So we were excited to try their heavily peated variation, Longrow. We'd heard really good things about the older release from this line "Longrow Red" and this is the newer addition from that label.

Nose: Salty dry ocean brine, mild smoke, light wood, lemon zest, angostura. Smells a bit like cigarettes when the pack has been open too long and they get brittle.

Body: Burn and spice. A bit sweet around the edges, curry / exotic spice mixture, coconut, berries. Not a big body and not a smooth body, so kind of like "well he's not good-looking, but hey he's got a lousy personality."

Finish: Ends sour. Not very balanced and the smoke ends too abruptly, leaving you tart. Can't imagine many people preferring this to a Lagavulin 16 or Ardbeg... Maybe if you just want a little peat - who just wants a little peat??!??

Review: It's like if someone asks you what punk music you like and you put on Green Day. "C+"

Benrinnes 23 Year

Look at this bottle, it's gorgeous! Cask strength 58.8% at 23 years, this was part of Diageo's special release program for 2009. It's super hard to come by these days (sold out at TWE and MasterofMalt at over $200) so expectations were very high.

Body: Plummy fruitiness, Welches grape juice, Luden's honey cough drops, reduced red wine. More wood.Finish: Honestly it's harsh for it's age (and price!). This one went too far on the oak to the point where the fruity / sweet elements fight against the bitterness but ultimately lose. Smokybeast "C-".

Tamdhu 10 Year

Nose: A vegetal nose with heart of palm, aloe, and jade bulbs backed by a little bit of sweet malt and green grapes.

Palate: Very mild, if somewhat uneventful. Creamy, oily, and sweet, sort of like those little milk chocolate baking chips you use for cookies.

Finish: Smooth, but at $65 bucks, it's tough to give this one a good review. Honestly we'd probably prefer a good blend, which might not blow out minds but would be drinkable with no surprises. A SmokyBeast "C".

Ledaig 2005

Nose: Wow we got a weird one here. It's definitely peated that's for sure. Not a peat bomb like some of our favorites, but it's got some smoke. But the smoke is wrapped in this very strange mix of vegetable oil and.. what is that.. like palm fronds. Not even sure if a palm frond is a thing, and if it is we've certainly never smelled one. But there's no doubt that this is what they smell like. Kind of like that coconut water smell that removes all the sweetness and just leaves the putrid hand lotion quality.

Palate: This is a very ACTIVE palate. Haven't ever used that word before, but it's appropriate here. There's a LOT going on. The peat is strong, there's a ton of sweetness too, and a lot of spice, and then a very weird sort of rubbery taste. Perhaps this is the young age of the malt showing (to the eye it's almost as pale as water), but it's banging around the sides of the mouth like many of the new craft whiskies do when they just haven't had enough years in the barrel.

Finish: Well ok on the one hand for eight years old and a whopping 113.4 proof it's mighty smooth, you have to give them that. But it's a weird sort of nasty smooth. Kind of like a lot of good components (peat fire, honeysuckle sweetness, and citrus tang) all banging against each other instead of integrating together. This one's just missing the wood, and so there isn't that base flavor anchoring all the other elements. SmokyBeast "D+".